Screenshot: Asia, the annual film festival from Pitt’s Film and Media Studies Program and the Asian Studies Center, gets underway Sept. 16 with 2026 BAFTA best children’s and family film winner “Boong,” from Indian director Lakshmipriya Dev.

 

The film festival features 11 movies, plus two compilations. Tickets are free for anyone with a Pitt ID or Carnegie Mellon students. The films will be screened at the David Lawrence Hall auditorium (121), the Harris Theater, the Frick Fine Arts auditorium, 332 Cathedral of Learning and other locations.

 

The event, which runs from Sept. 16 to 23, is designed to create a shared awareness of Asian and Asian-American experiences through contemporary film and media. All of the films are from the past three years.

 

Using film, video and other on-screen arts, the series provides a forum to learn about Asian art, whether it is a classic work of cinema, a film by an emerging director, or a documentary addressing contemporary social concerns. 

 

In addition to India, this year’s films come from Pakistan, Taiwan, Iran, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

 

The series kickoff, “Boong,” is about a schoolboy whose father has migrated for work. When the boy and his mother get word that his father has died, they suspect there is more to the story. Boong enlists the help of his best friend on an adventure that reflects the world around them — racism, transgender discrimination, growing sectarian violence — and the reasons why someone would want him to believe his father is dead. It will be shown at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 in the David Lawrence Hall auditorium.

 

The festival ends with the documentary “The Yoshida-Ryo Dormitory,” from Japanese director Fujikawa Keizo at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 in David Lawrence Hall. The movie, which won this year’s Japan Documentary Film Award, traces the past, present and future of Japan’s oldest student dormitory, a unique place that fosters community governance and anarchic living. As the university pushes for eviction on the grounds that the building is deteriorating, the residents strive to protect a way of life built around dialogue. The screening will include a discussion with director Fujikawa after the film.